Moscow, 16 August 2011 — UC RUSAL (SEHK: 486, Euronext: RUSAL/RUAL, MICEX: RUALR, RTS: RUAL), the world’s largest aluminium producer, and Sberbank of Russia (RTS: SBER, MICEX: SBER03) announce reaching the agreement to improve the key terms and conditions of the loan facility of USD4.58 billion signed on 30 September 2010.
According to the amended terms, the debt maturity will be extended such that the debt will mature 5 years from the date of signing the amendments (i.e. up to 2016). Besides, under new conditions, the guarantee of Vnesheconombank (VEB) amounting to USD2.25 billion will be terminated.
VEB’s loan to RUSAL, amounting to USD4.5 billion, was agreed in November 2008 and was used to repay the loan obtained in April 2008 from a syndicate of banks to finance the cash component of the acquisition of 25% plus 1 share of MMC Norilsk Nickel. In October 2010, such loan was refinanced by Sberbank.
The amendments have been approved by the credit committee of Sberbank and are subject to approval by the board of directors of RUSAL. The signing of the relevant documentation and the agreement is expected in the near future.
Oleg Mukhamedshin, UC RUSAL Director for Equity and Corporate Development said: “The reached agreements strongly improve the corporate debt profile and enable us to cut debt service expenses. The improvement of the Sberbank loan is one of the stages of RUSAL’s full debt refinancing which is expected to close by the end of September this year.”
“RUSAL has proved itself as a reliable partner of Sberbank,” said Alexandr Bazarov, member of the Management Board, Director of Sberbank’s Corporate Clients Department. “The reached agreements once again demonstrate our plans to develop long-term relations with RUSAL.”
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